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Fringe 2008 Reviews (33)
On the Island of Aars
Book and lyrics by Chris Larner, music by Mark Stevens
Quup Productions and James Seabright for Festival Highlights
Pleasance Courtyard
****
A Scottish island inhabited by three people - Morag McMacMcMacMcMacMcMac,
the Donald of Donald (a strict Calvinist minister) and Hamish McSurname
(a slightly liberal Calvinist minister). Hiding in a cave is Dave Bladgett
(from the Midlands), ex-bass player of Tunsten Orkid, a heavy metal
band.
Suddenly there arrives an EU official, Puupiline "Flaps"
van den Blouws, a sexually rapacious lesbian Dutch Health and Safety
officer with a very odd command of English.
The scene is set for a surreal musical comedy in which haggises fly,
young girls are totally - impossibily - innocent, and slightly libery
Calvinist ministers are not above using a bit of trickery to the get
the girl.
It's great fun in a somewhat surreal way, well performed by a cast
that includes author and lyricist Chris Larner, who is also director
(and whom many will remember as Clingfilm in London's Burning).
The cast have extensive credits on stage and TV and their performances
on a delightfully tongue in cheek set are impeccable.
Hardly ground-breaking theatre but an entertaining and relaxing way
to spend a mid-afternoon. (And yes, of course the island's name is a
deliberate pun!)
Peter Lathan
Somewhere Over the Westway
The Portobello Panto
Gilded Balloon Teviot
****
This Portobello Panto production mixes The Wizard of Oz, contemporary
music and life amongst the market traders of West London.
Using great wit and energy, the company pokes fun at each of these
groups but always with affection, if not much subtlety.
Ignoring the geography, the early scenes are pretty much out of EastEnders.
Dee has problems with market life and wants to be a TV star. Sadly,
she is knocked down by a car and finds herself following the 'Bello
Brick Road with her pet potato, Pototo (think about it).
She picks up three pals, a spaced out hippie Scarecrow surrogate, a
Blingman who is weighed down by metal and a cowardly rasta Lion of Judah.
They sing their way along, repeatedly avoiding a nasty Kate Bush Wicked
Witch until the Whizz, looking rather like Sir Bob Geldof, saves them
in a hasty but romantic ending.
Somewhere Over the Westway will not appeal to all but has enough
fresh humour and familiar tunes played live to build on a following
that already includes Lily Allen and Miquita Oliver.
Philip Fisher
The War of the Worlds
By Jeff Wayne after the book by H G Wells
Pip Utton Theatre Company
Baby Belly
*****
Jeff Wayne's concept album The War of the Worlds, with Richard
Burton as narrator, made a huge impression when it first appeared in
1978 and later this year it is to set off on another arena tour. In
the meantime fans can see a unique one-man version at the Fringe, performed
by Pip Utton on a stage which is almost bare apart from a pile of rocks
stage left.
It seems an almost impossible undertaking: Utton has nothing to rely
on but his body, voice and the soundtrack, but he is, as the Telegraph
said, the "Doyen of Fringe one-man shows" (a description with
which it is difficult to disagree) and if anyone can do it, he can.
Using the words of the unnamed narrator, he takes on his persona, talking
directly to the audience (a typical Utton trait) and remembering the
terrible events which he witnessed and describes for us. This is not
a "reading" (and singing, for he uses most of the songs from
the album) but a performance, with voice, face and body language clearly
reflecting the character's emotional states, even through the late 19th
century restraint of Wells' text. Here pauses are as effective as words
and Utton held the audience in the palm of his hand throughout.
I confess that I was rather uncertain beforehand. I wondered how he
would handle something which is very different from his usual shows
(although there are some superficial similarities to Only the Lonely
in the use of music), plays which he normally writes himself, but I
need not have wondered. It works, and works well, with his protean ability
to inhabit his characters totally so we are swept along by the story.
Peter Lathan
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